MOIAs have become an integral part of Hamburg’s urban landscape. The black and gold electric vehicles of VW’s ridesharing provider are quickly booked via app and drive Hamburg locals and tourists comfortably and almost silently to their destination.
MOIA thus offers a classic B2C service that is all about the end consumer. But the company doesn’t want to leave it at that, as the B2B market also holds great potential.
Thus, Torben Erhorn, marketing responsible at MOIA and at the same time lecturer at Brand University, brought an exciting task to the “Brand Boot Camp” seminar for his Master’s students from the 1st and 2nd semesters of Brand Innovation: “Develop a coherent B2B marketing strategy for ridesharing service MOIA in Hamburg.”
As lecturer and practice partner in one, Torben Erhorn was able to give his students many valuable first-hand insights about the company. These insights were complemented by an exclusive visit to one of the MOIA depots in Hamburg. There, the students got answers to all their questions about the vehicles and the operational processes.
The special challenge of the project was not to think of the end consumers, but rather to take the B2B perspective for a change. The students took up the task by first analysing the MOIA brand and social trends. Some even conducted surveys to discover market potential.
Six groups of international students participated in the project. Each worked out one specific idea, covering for example topics like cultural life and tourism in Hamburg, as well as alternative revenue streams.
In the final presentation, they convinced their audience with creative approaches for exciting B2B marketing concepts that were based on well-founded analyses. They presented competition analyses and positioning approaches, suggested sales channels and opened up a precise picture of potential customers as well as communication strategies that could be used to reach them. Last but not least, performance measurement methods were not to be missed.
Torben Erhorn is very satisfied with the process and the results of his students, whom he accompanied both as a practice partner and as a lecturer: “It is a great honor to share my practical knowledge and insights into B2B marketing. For me it is very inspiring to see the students’ fresh and academcial approaches to our practical business challenges.”
We would like to thank Torben Erhorn for the exciting combination of his work at MOIA and his teaching at Brand University. This project gave our students the opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of B2B marketing, to understand the differences to B2C marketing and to assess the buying behaviour of decision-makers. At the same time, the project revolved around future-oriented topics such as sustainability and urban mobility, which were a particular pleasure to work on.
